Tent-rope tightener



J. V. LQFQUIST. TENT ROP'E T'IGHTENER- APPLICATION FILED K812811921.

1,400,445, Y Patented De0.13, 1921.

(Tfl'omou UNITED STATES JOHN V. LOFQUIS'I, OF ST; PAUL, MINNESOTA.

TENT-ROPE TIGHTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 13, 1921.

Application filed February 28, 1921. seriaino. 448,567.

To all w from it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN V. LOFQUIST, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Tent-Rope Tightener, of which the followin" is a specification.

11y invention relates to means for holding and stretching guy ropes of tents, and the object is to provide an efficient tent rope holding device by which the rope may readily be stretched and held stretched and may also readily have its tension changed or regulated according as the ropes may become too tight from rainy weather or slack from dry weather or from the action of wind on the tent.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective of a portion of a tent with my device applied to its guy ropes.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view of my device in one of its several modified forms. Fig. 3 is the lower portion of the device modified.

Fig. 4 shows a further modification. Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 in Fig. 2. Fig.6 is a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 4, but showing also how the bearing of the shaft may be modified in any of the forms. Referring to the drawing by reference numerals, 7 designates a tent braced by guy ropes of which 8, 9, 10 are shown; and in order to not show two forms in one place nor unnecessarily multiply drawings, I have.

shown each of said ropes as secured to the ground by a differently modified form of the device.

In a general way each rope extends at a slant downward from the tent and is wound upon the portion 11 of a crank 11-12 having forked end 13 in which the end of the rope is placed and secured, as best shown at 10 in Fig. 4.

The crank is formed at one end of a short shaft 14 having at its other end a T-handle 15 by which to rotate it. The shaft is journaled in a bearing 16 in which collars or shoulders 17 prevent it from sliding and as said collars are preferably formed integral with the shaft the bearing is either formed in halves as in Fig. 6 and secured together by rivets 18 or it may be bent of a single piece of sheet iron, as in Fig. 5 and held firm by similar rivets 18.

The lower part of the bearing is in Figs.

2, 5 and at the rope 8 in Fig. 1 bifurcated so as to form a hood 18 straddling a metallic sector 19, which is pivoted at 20 and is provided with a segmental row of holes 21, through either of which may be inserted a pin 22 carried in a single hole 23 in the hood.

The sector 19 is secured to the ground either by a spiral shaped metal post 24 fixed in the sector and adapted to be screwed into the ground, as in Fig. 2 and at rope 8 in Fig. 1; or the hood may be secured to a wooden stake as 26 in Fig. 1 by a pivot bolt 20 and the pin 22 applied as in Fig. 2, only that the top end of the stake constitutes the sector 19. As in Fig. 3, the sector may be secured in or to the stake 26 by a bolt 25.

In Fig. 4 the bearing 16 is provided with a rigid curved arm 27 having a hole 28 positioned in a line drawn transversely from the portion 11 of the crank and adapted to be secured to a rope, chain, cable or other holding means. In Figs. 4 and 6 is shown how a'staple 29 may be placed in the hole and driven into a stake 30 driven into the ground.

In the operation or use of the device, when the tent has been put up and the ropes fastened to any of the forms of the device, as

shown, a turn of the shaft 14 by the handle 15 causes the crank portion or drum 11 to stretch the rope by winding up a part of it, and for each and every turn the crank makes it gets to a position from which it can not be turned backward by strain on the rope but only by the handle 15, because the very tightness of the rope holds the crank turned as much as possible toward the tent.

The form Fig. 4 may be applied also between two ends of a parted rope and the location of the hole 28 will prevent tilting of the device. In the other forms tilting of the shaft and crank is prevented by the pin 22, which also holds the crank sufiiciently at right angles to the rope 10.

What I claim is:

1. A tent rope holding and stretching device comprising a journal bearing, a shaft journaled in the bearing and having at one end a handle by which to rotate it and at the other end being ofiset to form a crank and terminating in a means adapted to have the rope attached to it, said crank serving as a winding drum for a portion of the attached rope, and means for securing the bearing to the ground.

2. The structure specified in claim 1, and means for holding the bearing with the crank at right angles to the stretched rope.

3. The structure specified in claim 1, said 5 means for holding the bearing connected with the ground comprising a cork-screw shaped metal stake adapted to be screwed into the ground, a sector secured at the top end of it and pivoted in a depending portion or hood of the bearing, and. means 10 engaging the sector with the hood to hold the latter with the bearing and crank shaft at about right angles to the stretched rope. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JOHN V. LOFQUIST. 

